Recent Blog entries

1. 

   Sixties Snapshots - 00 scale

   A blog by Silver Sidelines in RMweb Blogs

   • 180
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   Recent Entries

   • 45157 Glasgow Highlander
   • Top Lights, Top Marks, Dapol Mainline City Coaches
   • Buffers and Shiny Pipes, Bachmann’s Preserved 4MT
   • Gearing up the ex LMS 4P Tanks, Hornby and Bachmann
   • Oil Lamps, a little light on the subject

   

   Latest Entry
   

   45157 Glasgow Highlander

   R30226 or R2449 – both in fact?

   
   

    

   Hornby Glasgow Highlander R30226 top left R2449 bottom right

   
   2024 and Hornby have released an updated version of Black Five Gordon Highlander.

   
   

    

   Hornby Glasgow Highlander R30226
   
   My first Hornby Gordon Highlander, product number R2449, arrived in 2020.  I was probably late in the day judging by the product number and I am guessing that the model had been released around 2012.
   
   

    

   Hornby Glasgow Highlander R2449 with blue background to the crest
   
   Spring 2024 and Hornby issued an updated model.  Perhaps they have a lot unsold and I was offered one at a price that I thought I couldn’t refuse.  (My wife might have had a different view!)
   
   
    

   Hornby Glasgow Highlander R30226 with gold coloured crest, unlined cylinders, speedo cable and AWS trunking along the edge of the footplate.
   
   The newly engineered Glasgow Highlander R30226 was issued slightly ahead of its stable mate R30227 the Caprotti fitted number 44755.  Both new Black Fives, R30226 and R30227 are fitted with Hornby’s illuminated oil lamps.  Both have the smoke box door attached with magnets and appear to be manufactured to accept Hornby’s smoke generator.
    
   

    

   Hornby R30226 with illuminated lamps top left R2449 with Kenline lamp bottom right

   
   I have reservations about Hornby’s illuminated lamps which I think are over bright and being also over scale are too intrusive.  The detail packs for both R30226 and R30227 contain spare lamp irons to replace the illuminated lamps.  The lamps are a push fit and are held in place with ‘Black Tack’.  There is more information on fitting the lamps and lamp irons in a previous Post https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/26381-no-174-is-it-a-toy-or-is-it-a-model-engine/
   
   For my Glasgow Highlander I replaced the two illuminated lamps with lamp irons and then added a Kenline lamp held in place with double sided tape as detailed in another previous Post https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/26401-oil-lamps-a-little-light-on-the-subject/
   
   

    

   Out of the box Hornby R30226 with illuminated lamps
   
   

   
   Out of the box Hornby R2449 fitted with Kenline lamp
   
   

    

   Hornby R30226 with replacement spare lamp irons and Kenline lamp
   
   R30226 weighs around 260gm which is too light for hauling coaches up the inclines on my layout.  As said above I think the chassis is engineered for a smoke generator and there is ample room in the smoke box to fit the necessary extra 50gm inch long roll of lead.  The chassis of R30226 is similar to the chassis of R30227 (the Caprotti) but seems to have more metal.  The additional roll of lead can be posted through the smoke door opening or with the body shell removed it can be dropped into the firebox and pushed along inside the boiler.
   
   I had to add lead ballast to my first Glasgow Highlander (R2449) to raise the total weight to 290gm.  It runs well and I like its looks.  R30226 also runs well.  For the Caprotti I had to massage the shape of the holding bracket for the front bogie to prevent the bogie lifting the driving wheels from the track (and loosing traction).  I didn’t have this issue with R30226.
   The new model has matt black paint to the smokebox.  This seems to be the fashion these days that I feel has been borrowed from the appearance of engines in preservation rather than photographs from the 1950s and 60s.  R2449 has a blue background to the crest on the nameplate which looks more Scottish than the gold background on R30226.  I am not sure which is correct (and for what time period).  Blue is the colour that has been used on Ian Riley’s preserved Black Five 45407 which has been masquerading as 45157 for many years.  (It is sobering to note that 45407 had a life of perhaps 30 years in LMS/BR ownership and approaching now 55 years in preservation.)
   
   I do wonder why Hornby chose to issue a second model of Glasgow Highlander and it had crossed my mind that they were confused by images of 45407 in preservation.
    

   

    

   45157 at Stirling 23 April 1962 courtesy Ernies Railway Archives https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/
   
   Pictures of 45157 in British Railways service are rare but the image above from Ernies Railway Archive Flickr stream shows the engine in its last year.  Note the AWS conduit along the edge of the footplate and the boiler with its combined dome and top feed.  There is no sign of any speedo drive.
   
   

    

   45407 masquerading as 45157 at Crewe open day in 2003 courtesy of Richard Hugo on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/rhugo/

   
   In contrast there are lots of pictures of 45157 (45407) in preservation.  Richard Hugo on Flickr has a super image of 45407 at Crewe open day in 2003.  You can see openings on the edge of the footplate where the AWS trunking was fitted and then removed.  Also 45407 is fitted with a speedo drive, something which more knowledgeable people confirm did not happen with 45157.  If Hornby had the intention of modelling 45407 it should have been given red cylinder lining, an Early Emblem and yellow overhead warning plates.  It then gets confused because 45407 has a separate dome and top feed compared to Glasgow Highlanders boiler with a combined dome and top feed. Both Hornby models are correct in this respect.  So which engine is Hornby R30226 based upon?
   
   Either way I am well pleased with my models of 45157.  It remains to be seen whether in the future R30226 receives a number change.
   
   

    

   Hornby Glasgow Highlander R30226 fitted with a Kenline lamp.
   
   I have loaded a short compilation video of the two models fitted with their different lights.  R2449 is hauling red and cream coaches.  R30226 is hauling maroon coaches.  The clips at the end show R30226 with lamp irons and a single Kenline lamp.

    

    

    

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2. 

   Historical Loading Gauges

   A blog by JimC in RMweb Blogs

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   • 4
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   • 141
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   Recent Entries

   • Hastings Line Tunnels
   • From McDermott, History of the Great Western Railway, Vol1, pub GWR1923

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Hastings Line Tunnels

   Perhaps the most notorious gauging situation on the railways. 

   
   As is well known, part of the Hastings line of the South Eastern Railway was constructed by what one has to say was a fraudulent contractor who built the tunnels without proper lining. This page https://tonbridgecommuters.org.uk/trouble-with-tunnels-the-railway-investment-legacy/ gives a decent overview of the events and subsequent action. Briefly the always impecunious SER, having received quite inadequate compensation awarded, elected to build two extra layers of brick lining inside the inadequate structures, reducing them in gauge by 18 inches, so well below what was planned.  The problem was perhaps exacerbated by a parabolic tunnel profile which narrows all the way up. The sub gauge tunnels caused problems for generations, which has only now been resolved by converting the line to single track through the affected tunnels. Previously the line was worked by special "Restriction 0" stock, only 8ft 3/4 in across the body, whereas other stock was 8ft 6in and 9ft 0in. For more on SR carriage restrictions see this page from the Bluebell Railway. https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/cw/restriction.html. For reference the standard SER loading gauge, one of the smaller ones, was 9ft wide and 13ft 1in tall. There is a little more detail on SR and pre SR gauges on my loading gauge page https://www.devboats.co.uk/gwdrawings/loadinggauges.php.

   
   Curiously perhaps, I've found it difficult to establish exactly what the practical structure gauge is through the tunnels. In Southern Railway days the structure gauge for new double track construction was 26ft 6in. One tunnel on which I have found some good information is the unlikely named Bo Peep tunnel. https://www.bloodandcustard.com/BR-Tunnels-BoPeep.html. This tunnel is at the west end of St Leonards Warrior Square Station. It seems a reasonable guess that this tunnel, still double tracked, was constructed to the original planned dimensions, being 28ft 6in at rail level and about 24ft at carriage window height. The extremely chequered history of this tunnel, which includes a couple of fatalities, is covered on the Blood and Custard page. The tunnel was extensively reconstructed and partially widened in the 1950s, which presumably explains the continued twin tracks. Assuming that 28ft 6in/24ft were indeed the designed dimensions, the narrowed Hastings lines tunnels are presumably down to around 22ft 6in at carriage window height..
   
   A couple more pages on the Hastings Line Tunnels are https://www.kentrail.org.uk/somerhill_tunnel.htm and https://sremg.org.uk/structures/struct_67.html, which include photographs showing the tunnel profile. More information would be very welcome: please comment.

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3. 

   Awreville O Gauge Diesel Depot

   A blog by Tommyp81 in RMweb Blogs

   • 7
     entries
   • 1
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   • 244
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   Recent Entries

   • Refuelling Canopy
   • Planning details
   • Continuation of the scenery
   • The back scene
   • Starting the scenery

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Refuelling Canopy

   I built the refuelling point from plasticard and strut, I bult the frame for the canopy and placed into position to see that the sizing was correct and had enough clearance over the locos. With the frame built I installed LED 12v strip's onto the plasticard and wired between, I planned to put corrugated aluminium over these and cut around the struts with apertures cut in to hide the wires and most of the strip. Installed two O gauge refuelling points purchased from eBay which were painted yellow, these will be further detailed and weathered and flexible pipework installed. 

    

   

    

   

    

   

    

   

    

    

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